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General David Bradford was forced to flee from President
George Washington's army in 1794, because of his leadership
role in the Whisky Rebellion. General Bradford arrived in
Louisiana and obtained a Spanish land grant of roughly 650
acres. A wealthy judge and businessman from Washington County,
Pennsylvania, Bradford showed interest in the area before
the conclusion of the unsuccessful Whisky Rebellion forced
him to settle there. Bradford built the plantation that was
later named "the Myrtles" in 1797. He died in 1808,
and his widow sold the land to her son-in-law, Clark Woodruff,
a lawyer and friend of Andrew Jackson. In 1834 Woodruff sold
it to Ruffin Gray Stirling, who restored the plantation. The
Stirling family held the plantation until 1894, after which
it passed through a succession of owners. Restoration efforts
on the gracious 1 1/2-story country house began in the mid-1970s.
The house itself is a broad, low, rambling frame mansion
with a clapboard exterior and was built in two halves. The
first half, which was built in 1796, forms the western six
bays of the main façade. These were increased in size
due to mid-19th-century restoration, when the house also received
a southward extension that almost doubled its size. The unusually
long gallery is supported by an exceptional cast-iron railing
of elaborate grape-cluster design. It is the interior detailing,
however, which is perhaps the most important feature of the
Myrtles Plantation. Most of the ground floor rooms have fine
marble, arched mantles in the Rococo Revival style, with central
console keystones or cartouches.
Most of the rooms have plaster-ceiling medallions, no two
of which are the same. All of the flooring and most of the
windows in the house are original. The Myrtles Plantation
is an outstanding example of the expanded raised cottage form
that characterized many Louisiana plantation houses by the
mid-19th century.
The plantation house is touted as one of the most haunted
houses in America, as it was the scene of a Reconstruction-era
murder and other more natural deaths that have entered into
local folklore over the years. Restored to its 1850s grandeur,
complete with fine French furnishings and chandeliers, the
Myrtles enhances its haunted-house reputation with candlelight
mystery tours.
The Myrtles Plantation is located off US 61 North, in St.Francisville.
It is open daily for tours 9:00am to 5:00pm, with mystery tours at 8:00pm Friday and Saturday
evenings; there is a fee for admission. The Myrtles also offers
bed and breakfast accomodations, and a restaurant (closed
Monday and Tuesday). Please call 225-635-6277 for further
information.
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